Scottish Executive

Arts

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support and promote Scotland's young artistic talent.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Scottish Arts Council is the lead agency charged with maintaining a national overview of young people's involvement with the arts. The council continues, in partnership with arts organisations, local authorities and others, to develop a wide range of initiatives that engage with young people. Prominent among such initiatives are the links officer scheme, the cultural co-ordinator's scheme, the youth music initiative and the Dewar awards for talented young artists. The council's draft education strategy is currently out for consultation and will inform future support for this sector.

Caledonian MacBrayne

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of Caledonian MacBrayne and what issues were discussed.

Mr Jim Wallace: Scottish Executive officials meet the management of Caledonian MacBrayne Limited whenever necessary, most recently at a meeting on 10 December 2003, when a wide range of operational and other issues were discussed.

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been undertaken to quantify the need for respite care.

Mr Tom McCabe: Local authorities, health boards and other key agencies have a joint responsibility to plan and commission a full range of health and social care services, including respite. Part of that responsibility is to establish needs and priorities at a local level. The Executive's wide range of health and social care policies acknowledges the importance of respite to a range of vulnerable people and their carers. The answer to question S2W-3451 in 12 November 2003 provides information on the resources being made available to local authorities specifically to develop and expand respite provision across Scotland.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its definition of respite care covers both the carers and those being cared for.

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines respite care.

Mr Tom McCabe: Guidance issued by the Scottish Office in March 1996 (Circular SWSG 10-96) defines respite as "any service of limited duration which benefits a dependent person. The distinctive feature of respite care is that the break should be a positive experience for the cared for person and the carer (where there is one) in order to enhance the quality of their lives and to support their relationship. Respite care can be provided within or outwith an individual's home and may extend from a few hours to a few weeks". We are working with local authorities, carers' organisations and key stakeholders to improve the data currently available on respite provision across Scotland. Part of that work involves revisiting the definition of respite care. It is important that any revised definition continues to reflect the importance of respite as a vital support to carers, as well as to the people they care for.

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is made available for short breaks for carers and those being cared for.

Mr Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3451 on 12 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policies are on respite care for (a) young carers, (b) families with children with disabilities and (c) families with children living on or below the poverty line.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive makes resources available to enable local authorities to provide a full spectrum of social care services, including respite care for young carers and families affected by disability. Our partnership agreement reflects our firm commitment to develop and expand respite provision across Scotland and over the last three years £22 million has been provided to authorities specifically to develop short break services. It is a matter for individual authorities to determine how their overall resources are used and how much is allocated towards providing respite care. Short break services are not available to families living on low incomes, unless they are affected by disability. A separate range of initiatives exist to assist such families.

Carers

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young carers there are in each local authority area.

Mr Tom McCabe: The following table provides information on the number of young carers aged under 18 in each local authority area, as sourced from the 2001 Census.

  


Local Authority

Number of Young Carers



Aberdeen City

452



Aberdeenshire

595



Angus

291



Argyll and Bute

262



Clackmannanshire

179



Dumfries and Galloway

447



Dundee City

457



East Ayrshire

495



East Dunbartonshire

414



East Lothian

251



East Renfrewshire

289



Edinburgh City of

1,139



Eilean Siar

103



Falkirk

522



Fife

1,136



Glasgow City

2,301



Highland

721



Inverclyde

242



Midlothian

285



Moray

289



North Ayrshire

532



North Lanarkshire

1,204



Orkney Islands

68



Perth and Kinross

370



Renfrewshire

621



Scottish Borders

286



Shetland Islands

84



South Ayrshire

342



South Lanarkshire

1,113



Stirling

254



West Dunbartonshire

410



West Lothian

547



Total

16,701

Child Safety

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice is given to education authorities on the advantages of introducing "walking buses" schemes in the interests of safety of schoolchildren and what information it has on the use of such schemes by individual education authorities.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive published guidance on how to run safer routes to school in 1999. A "walking bus" scheme led by a council education department was included in the guidance as an illustration of the type of project that might be undertaken. Advice on how to set up and run a "walking bus" is available through a number of websites set up by individual local authorities. In addition, Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity provides much guidance through its website on safe routes to school schemes including walking buses.

  It is for each local authority to decide how best to implement safer routes to school initiatives within its area. The Executive does not monitor individual local schemes centrally.

Fisheries

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the next European Council negotiations on fishing take cognisance of ecological considerations.

Ross Finnie: One of the stated objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy is to provide sustainable environmental conditions; one of its guiding principles is consistence with other Community policies, including environmental policies.

  To that end, Article 1 of the Framework Regulation (EC/2371/2002) requires fisheries management decisions taken by European Council under the Common Fisheries Policy to provide coherent measures for limiting the environmental impacts of fishing.

  Commission proposals to regulate fishing activity are prepared by DG Fish and routinely circulated for inter-service consultation within the Commission itself, including to DG Environment. The proposals must take full account of existing Community regulations, including environmental, species or habitat protection requirements. Further, the Council is empowered to take emergency measures to restrict fishing activity where there is an immediate or unforeseen threat to the environment, as are individual member states.

General Practitioners

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current annual level of GP registrars is adequate.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive and NHS Education for Scotland have recently reviewed the number of GP registrars and have arranged for the numbers to be maintained at 280.

Housing

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under schedule 7 of the Housing (Scotland) 2001 Act, a person is prevented from serving on the board of a registered social landlord if a relative (a) owns or (b) is a director of a company that is on the approved list of contractors for that registered social landlord.

Ms Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Schedule 7 to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 prohibits any registered social landlord (RSL) from granting benefits. Specifically, a benefit cannot be granted to a business trading for profit where either the principal proprietor of that business or a person directly concerned in the management of that business:

  (a) is, or has been during the preceding 12 months, an officer or employee of the RSL; or

  (b) is a close relative of any such person.

  For these purposes, the award of a contract would be treated as the grant of a benefit.

  The Scottish ministers have in effect approved certain exceptions to those restrictions. These include, for example, where the choice of contractors is severely limited in a very remote rural community. Even in those cases the RSL's governing body must approve the payment and be able to demonstrate that the business concerned was able to offer better value for money than any alternative.

Local Government

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of Highland Council and what issues were discussed.

Mr Andy Kerr: Several ministers have met with Highland Council representatives during the past six months to discuss a wide range of issues. There have also been a number of meetings between Scottish Executive officials and officers of the council on various matters.

NHS Waiting Times

Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has met its targets in A Partnership for a Better Scotland for guaranteeing treatment for in-patients within nine months of diagnosis by the end of 2003 and what progress it is making in reducing this time to six months by the end of 2005.

Malcolm Chisholm: Validated waiting times figures for 31 December 2003 will be published by ISD Scotland on its "NHSScotland Acute Activity, Waiting Times and Waiting Lists" website on Thursday 26 February 2004.

  The latest available statistics – for 30 September 2003 – show that NHSScotland was making very good progress towards meeting our commitment that, from 31 December 2003, no patient with a guarantee will wait more than nine months for in-patient or day case treatment. On that date, 897 patients had waited more than nine months – a reduction of 2,940 (76%) on the position on 30 September 2002.

  As part of the local health plan process, the National Waiting Times Unit is currently meeting with NHS boards to agree local targets for 2004-05, which demonstrate good progress towards attainment of the national maximum waiting time of six months for in-patient and day case treatment, by 31 December 2005.

Post Office

Christine May (Central Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to support urban post offices in central Fife and other areas; when any such support might be available, and how it may be obtained.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has informed all eligible post offices about the £2 million fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areas and began accepting applications from March 2003. Further information on the fund, along with details of the application process, can be obtained from Communities Scotland.

Recycling

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mobile recycling plants are in operation and what the total weekly capacity is of such plants.

Ross Finnie: The information requested is not held centrally.

Roads

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will meet trunk road operating companies and local authorities to discuss the action taken to address severe winter conditions on roads.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive held a winter maintenance seminar in June 2003 at which all local authorities and trunk road operating companies were invited to discuss winter operations. The trunk road operating companies have consulted with local authorities as part of their annual review and update of their winter maintenance plans.

Scottish Water

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to require Scottish Water to review its practice of issuing annual fixed charges to non-domestic consumers for water and waste water services.

Ross Finnie: No.